Most residents of a new 33-storey apartment block in Sydney were allowed to return home early Christmas morning after cracking noises forced them to evacuate a day earlier, but 51 units were declared unsafe, police said Tuesday.
People living in the unsafe units were escorted back to their apartments by fire and rescue services Tuesday to collect valuables, but will have to find alternative accommodation while inspections continue, police said in a statement.
Thousands of residents of Opal Tower in Sydney's Olympic precinct and nearby buildings were evacuated Monday afternoon after residents heard loud bangs and "cracking noises."
Several residents told reporters that doors suddenly got stuck in the morning, and in the afternoon they heard a loud crack like something big had snapped.
Structural engineers found cracks one to two millimetres wide had opened on an internal wall on the 10th floor, police said in the statement.
The 165-million-Australian dollar (116-million-US dollar) skyscraper with 392 apartments was opened just four months ago as part of a major five-tower residential development on the site of the 2000 Olympic Games.
Lisa Bridgett, who had to relocate with her two young children, told national broadcaster ABC it was not the Christmas she had envisaged.
"My kids are at that age where it's really exciting and the little things you do on Christmas Eve like putting the cookies out for Santa ... and all that sort of stuff they're going to miss out on," she said.
